Thursday, Oct. 31, 8:30-9:45am CT
Location: Blake campus, Dining Commons (virtual option available)
This edition of our popular Breakfast at Blake speaker series features 2024 Young Alumna Award recipient Cassidy Blackwell ʼ02. Q&A follows the presentation. Complimentary breakfast served. Register here by Monday, Oct. 28.
Cassidy Blackwell is the director of global community programs at Airbnb, where she has worked since March 2018 and also served as director of strategic projects, director of global editorial and director of international communications.
Blackwell’s work in communications and marketing has spanned the industries of consumer packaged goods, retail and philanthropy with specialized experience in empowering women, people of color and other underserved communities around the world. Under her tenure, Airbnb launched a 2022 partnership with the Congressional Black Caucus Institute (CBCI) to provide housing support for CBCI’s first-ever government relations fellowship program. Cassidy sat on their advisory council and briefed Congress on how to diversify the travel industry and make the economic benefits more accessible to more people.
From 2014-18, Blackwell was director of brand engagement at Walker & Company Brands, which produces Bevel, a shaving system geared toward people of color. Blackwell’s work was most visible on Bevel Code, Walker & Co.'s grooming-and-fashion website, which functions like a lifestyle magazine. Her team of writers, photographers and videographers created unique stories. Blackwell wrote profiles of the personal barbers of Barack Obama, Kanye West and Jay Z. She was the architect behind a poignant video that introduced the Bevel Trimmer, which featured rapper and Walker & Co. investor Nas and was viewed 1 million times in less than a month. In addition to her communications work, Blackwell also helped with the company’s product development, which resulted in an exclusive retail partnership with Target, and the hair care line she led the development on launched at Sephora.
Blackwell founded and managed Natural Selection from 2009-15. The blog became a leading online entity in the natural hair space, reaching over 50,000 people a month globally. In this role she produced all original written and video content, created an editorial calendar, secured sponsorships, developed partnerships and collaborations with brands, produced events and managed all social media. Blackwell has also worked as the global editor of TextureMedia, Inc. and as the social media manager for Stitch Fix.
Blackwell appeared on Fast Company’s 2016 Most Creative People in Business list and Brand Innovator's 2017 40 under 40 list. She was a finalist for the Sage Group's Marketers Who Matter list in 2017. She was a 2008-09 fellow at the Rosenberg Foundation and a John B. Ervin Scholar at Washington University in St. Louis.
At Blake, Blackwell played JV and varsity hockey, earning the Most Improved Player award. She lettered in JV tennis and varsity lacrosse. She spoke at Breakfast at Blake in 2021 and was featured in the winter 2017 issue of Cyrus. Blackwell currently lives on a blueberry farm in Sonoma County.